Talk:Semiotic paradigm
Add topicGood Lord! Having read this paper as presented so far I realized that I had failed to introduce the reader to the subject. Oh sure there was a 'Title' but that was ALL. Let us please prepare the reader for what is about to be presented!
Information - What is it. In a human sense it is the vehicle on which we base our decisions. The lubricant for our lives. In hindsight, it is the rationale we give ourselves to explain our actions. In this century we speak of digital information. This is more than just a story explaining how things are. Will it rain today? Who’s in charge? How do I get there?
When I was coming to understand the world, information was something primarily captured in language and stored on paper. Newspapers were for the day to day, and libraries were where the books were kept. Oh yes there were computers… number crunchers that were bigger than houses with little paper cards and even tinier holes. It was some time before we realized that letters, as in morse code, could be represented by ones and zeros and the ‘word processor’ was made available. Machines could manage language!
Ones and zeros - base 2 math, funny binary math can express any number but there is no two involved: on, off. Then came wireless communication, satellite and microwave transmission. Suddenly libraries were looking like 8 track tape players! Information had changed drastically! - or had it? Because we think in language, we have a tendency to confuse the word with the ‘thing itself’. We also confuse where we look with what we’re looking for. To clarify our thinking, linguists and philosophers have developed a concept diagram: Semantic triangle
Picture an object. Now think of the word for that object. If your triangle points up, at the top is… the mental transaction we make or the referent. So, Log [old wood lying on the ground] the mental transaction [referent] that evokes the ‘word’: log. The mental transaction ‘referent’. in theory, could be represented as a coded algorithm. This tidbit is intended for all those born after 1980. So, again, what is information?
1July2015 11:50 After careful re-reading, SOME PARAGRAPHS MAY NEED "MATRIX SETTING". - style is so condensed that a pace of resetting may be needed to direct the flow of thought.
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